Covering All Technology and Application Areas of Additive Fabrication Including:
RAPID PROTOTYPING 3D PRINTING RAPID TOOLING RAPID MANUFACTURING

Engineering & Design Use

From Update 58 - 3/10/09 to 6/9/09:

Two patent applications from Enrique Saldivar and Jennifer Orje this period provide an interesting view of how additive fabrication can be used in unexpected ways to help design instrumentation. The authors have developed an instrument to measure blood platelet contractility as a means of studying blood clotting. A 300X scale model of a clot was constructed and used to determine the fluid dynamics within the instrument. The authors have previously received patents for work in this field. See Fig. 9.

From Update 56 - 9/10/08 to 12/9/08:

Playtex Products, Inc. describes the observation and evaluation of tampons in-vivo using a combination of magnetic resonance imaging and rapid prototyping. A surface model of the tampon is created and modifications and improvements are made accordingly.

From Update 51 - 6/6/07 to 9/4/07:

Selective laser melting (SLM) can fabricate columns of metal a few mils in diameter and several inches long. This ability translates into using the process to make sections of cable models for testing and evaluation. According to a patent application from Casar Drahtseilwerk Saar GmbH (Germany), it's possible to optimize a cable using different complements of diameters, lay length, the use of different materials, and so forth.

From Update 50 - 3/6/07 to 6/6/07:

Inventor Christian Hamm-Dubischar (Germany) has had a patent application published for a method of adapting the designs of nature to produce optimized lightweight structures and parts. The author adapts the geometries of such species as diatoms to the design of items such as wheels, among other things. See Fig. 6.